Eki Hioki

Eki Hioki was the Japanese charges d'affaires to the German Empire from 16 September 1907 to 1 August 1908 and ambassador to China during the reign of Yuan Shikai. In 1914, Hioki demanded that Yuan Shikai allow for the Japanese inheritance of the German possessions of Shandong and Tsingtao during World War I, that Japanese civilians should be allowed to enter Manchuria and Inner Mongolia to engage in commercial, industrial, and mining activities, and that the lease of Lushun and Dalian and the management of the Antung-Mukden Railway would be extended for 99 years. Yuan was infuriated, but he secretly accepted the humiliating 21 Articles so that he could gain Japanese support to become Emperor.